Original Xbox Emulator Xemu Ported to Jailbroken PlayStation 5 Consoles

Xemu Arrives on PS5

The popular original Xbox emulator, Xemu, has been successfully ported to jailbroken Sony PlayStation 5 consoles. Reddit user u/Yzenxam, also known as ZiZc3 on GitHub, released the port, playfully named XPSemu. A video demonstrated the emulator running Forza Motorsport, Halo 2, and Crash Bandicoot on a PS5.

Technical Implementation

XPSemu is a direct port of Xemu, modified to run as a native application on the PS5. It utilizes QEMU’s TCG JIT for real-time translation of the Xbox CPU to the PS5 CPU, offering faster performance than interpretation-based methods. For graphics, Xemu's NV2A GPU translation uses a Vulkan renderer. Thanks to the PS5_Vulkan modder, XPSemu communicates with the PS5’s AMD GPU via the open-source RADV Vulkan driver.

Custom Features and Optimizations

ZiZc3 added several enhancements to XPSemu, including a controller-friendly dashboard, per-game settings, cover art display, play time tracking, game patches, a performance overlay, per-game logging, and CPU optimizations specifically for the PS5's Zen 2 processor.

Performance Considerations

Despite the use of QEMU's TCG JIT, the emulated Xbox CPU remains the primary performance bottleneck, often reaching 85-97% utilization while the PS5 GPU remains largely idle. This means resolution multipliers up to 3-4x and FSR upscaling have minimal impact on performance. The developer noted that the PS5's Zen 2 cores are slower per core compared to a fast PC, which affects CPU-intensive games.

Expanding PS5 Emulation Landscape

The addition of XPSemu further expands the emulation capabilities of the PS5. The console already supports emulators for PS1-3, Nintendo Switch, Wii U, and 3DS, alongside various RetroArch emulators. This development comes as other modders are also working on Xbox 360 and PS5 Proton projects for the console.